Sisters and Brothers;

Below, please find correspondence from the PTC administrator extending the deadline for licensing renewal submissions to November 1, 2024.
Please share this with your members.

Fraternally,
Kevin C. Lyons

***

Good Afternoon Everyone,
As you are aware October 1, 2024, is the deadline for Renewal Application, however, due to numerous inquiries, the date will be extended to November 1, 2024. All renewals must be submitted no later than November 1, 2024. If you have questions, or need assistance with the renewal process, please contact the Licensing Unit at PTCLicensing@njdcj.org thank you.  

But Wait, There’s More!

Well, the state pushed through the 16.3% increase despite making promises that would give us 60 days to come up with solutions. Labor took many steps to mitigate the rate increases and all were shot down by the representatives of the administration. It was apparent when during a zoom call with decision makers from both labor and management on a call, the person from management who had called the meeting put herself on mute and blatantly and dismissively turned her chair on a 90-degree angle from the screen and started texting. It was obvious to me that we were just a nuisance and that they had no interest in controlling costs and only continuing to feed their political donors in the Hospital Association.

A recent survey that was published by Patient Rights Advocate showed that 92% of respondents in a bipartisan survey strongly or somewhat support, “requiring hospitals and health insurance companies to provide real, actual prices – not estimates.” What was more disturbing in this survey was that 35% of the respondents to the poll stated that they had delayed medical care due to concerns of not knowing how much care would cost. I ask, what more do they need to change the current system? It seems to me that policymakers are siding against 92% of the electorate and like the old Soviet Socialist Party, are taking the paternalistic position that they know better.

In negotiations over the rate increases the CWA engaged their actuary to review the state’s actuarial analysis of the plan. They questioned several of the assumptions that were made and adopted (by a 3-2 vote of the Commission). It was pointed out that several assumptions in the report were artificially high. National trends were in some cases ignored. At the end of the day, there is only one assumption that we can make, the rates are artificially high or as they said during the big short, the books are being cooked. Conservatively, and with common sense approaches, 5% could be shaved off the rates.

But wait…there’s more. In the rate setting midyear analysis presented to the Commissions and Committees in March, the State’s actuary, on page 20, stated that changing the index for reimbursement for out of network claims to 175% of medicare rates would be a 6.1% savings on the rates. Labor brought that to the division and miraculously, it was only worth 2.6%. Can you smell the books cooking there? The other big issue that was much ado about nothing was the GLP-1 (weight loss drug) spend. The fact of the matter is that if we eliminate them for weight loss alone the savings is only 1.6%. The real problem is the specialty drug spend which was up 23.3%. Specialty drugs and injectable drugs administered at hospitals are marked up in some cases 7 times. I’m glad to see that these hospitals that care so much about us, are kind and compassionate to cancer patients. This is all while the state is dragging its bureaucratic feet on a solution that we have already presented that would have drugs placed on the formulary based on clinical efficacy, not just because they are the “shiny new car” on the market. Our total drug spend is up over 20% and we need to take control of the formulary from the Pharmacy Benefit Managers.

Now these are harsh words, but they need to be said. Hospital networks are not people. They don’t vote, and they are being given a pass by the government. We need to go to back to basics and make sure that government is acting in the interests of the people and not the hospitals. There is not one person reading this article that would buy a car and tell them to mail you the bill without looking at it. Engage with your providers, ask for the price of the service, and shop. When they are screwing you, they are screwing all of us.

The leadership of the NJ State PBA has been working diligently with the Police and Fireman’s Retirement System to preserve the intent of and institute P.L. 2024, Chapter 54-Purchase of Credit for Service as a Class II Law Enforcement Officer.  We are proud to announce that the Certifying Officer of your agency will or has received the above notification from the PFRSNJ that on August 22, 2024 Acting Governor Nicholas Scutari signed the Bill into law and active members of the PFRS are eligible to purchase their service credit as a Class II Special Officer as well as their academy time to complete a basic police training course inclusive of alternate route for their employment. 

The procedure to purchase your service credit has been established and eligible members can log onto their Member Benefits Online System (MBOS) account and apply to purchase their service credit by following the below steps:

• Access the purchase application via MBOS https://my.nj.gov/aui/Login 
• Select the Uncredited Service button
• A Chapter 54 pop-up box will appear then select “ok”
• The Division of Pensions and Benefits (DPB) will send the employer an Employment Verification Form for the time in question which is required to be submitted back to the DPB in order to determine if the purchase is eligible
• Members should provide supporting documents including but not limited to:
  • A written summary thoroughly detailing the time requested
  • Resolution when hired or appointed to the position
  • Payroll records from your employer or pay stubs supporting the time in question (not W2 Forms)
  • Records evidencing academy time and completion of academy time
  • Certification of graduation/successful completion of the academy

• The information should be sent to the address below:

NJDPB
Attn: Shirlene Scott (Purchase Section)
PO BOX 295
Trenton NJ 08625-0295

PL 2024, Chapter 54 adds to PFRS Fact Sheet 1, Purchasing Service Credit and in that Class II Special Time and associated Police Academy time is now purchasable.  However, the member is responsible to pay the full cost of the service time, inclusive of their cost and that of the employer, which will be twice the cost of other types of purchases. The cost will be determined based on the member’s age and salary, as determined by the PFRS actuary.  Once applied for, the processing times vary, usually up to 4 months, so please allow several weeks for the Purchase Section to process the requests.  Once the requests are processed the purchase quote will be mailed to you, there is no obligation to purchase the time as it is only a quote, if you do not respond the quote will expire in 90 days, you may buy only a portion of the time, and you CANNOT carry payments into retirement

The NJ State PBA will continue to monitor the implementation of the Law and the mechanism governing the approval process of the purchase time.  We anticipate a smooth process; however, each purchase is handled on a case-by-case basis, and some may require additional documents or processing.  Please contact or email your NJSPBA Pension Coordinator Luke Sciallo at lsciallo@njspba.com or your State Delegate with any questions, needs or issues.  Be sure that the email comes from a personal email and has a contact number. 

The Law is new and most certainly will experience some growing pains, but we will keep you updated as it progresses and remain committed to provide the members of the NJSPBA with the utmost assistance in obtaining any and all benefits that make us the premiere Law Enforcement Union in the State of New Jersey.

Thank you,

Peter Andreyev
State President

View Additional Information Here

TRENTON- State President Peter Andreyev testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee today regarding juvenile crimes, car thefts and burglaries.

Testimony of Peter Andreyev
New Jersey State PBA
June 13, 2024

Thank you Chairman Stack and members of the Committee for this opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Peter Andreyev and I am the President of the 30,000 member New Jersey State PBA. I am joined today by my Executive Vice President Michael Freeman.

We are glad that you are having this hearing today because New Jersey can no longer ignore that we have an ongoing problem with juvenile crime, the use of juveniles by criminal gangs to do their dirty work and a growing mentality among minors that they are untouchable when they break the law.

Before I discuss some underlying problems related to juveniles, car thefts, burglaries and other problems I want to be very clear on our position. I believe there is great value, not only for public safety but morally as well, to do what we can to keep minors out of the criminal justice system. Some teens are forced into crime. Some find it through lack of options in life. And some simply make mistakes. None of us want to see someone spend a lifetime in jail starting at a young age if we can help it.

Deferring juveniles from prison is a worthy goal. But it should not be a policy that fails to address the risks posed by not considering a punishment equal to the crime. Unfortunately, the State of New Jersey has gone too far in one direction in its criminal justice policy over the past decade that we are seeing criminal organizations take great advantage of it.

Some serious crime like car theft and burglaries occur as a crime of opportunity. A car is left running or unlocked. A house left unsecured. Valuables left on a counter in a store unattended. These crimes happen every day.

But what we are seeing Statewide is a coordinated use of minors by criminal organizations and our criminal justice policies do little to aid law enforcement in fighting back.

The vast majority of car thefts that occur in NJ are committed by members of criminal organizations. These groups use juveniles for scouting neighborhoods and to steal the vehicles because there is virtually no chance of detention when they are caught by police, and everyone involved is keenly aware of this fact.

And this is where our State policy becomes an impediment to us. Without the threat of detention we can’t effectively build a case against the ring leaders who are adults that pay the juveniles for each car they steal. The juvenile may be caught but they are right back to the neighborhoods looking for more cars to steal.

And since juvenile crimes are not part of the bail reform scheme when that same individual is caught over 18 the entire process starts from scratch as if they had no criminal record.

And for those who doubt that our hands are tied in this fight I point you to Attorney General Directive 2020-12. This policy essentially mandates the issuance of a Complaint-Summons in Lieu of Complaint-Warrant before a juvenile is immediately released into the custody of a parent, guardian or custodian. Crimes like residential burglary, vehicle theft and eluding are not graded sufficiently for presumption of detention unless there is a firearm present or there is death or serious bodily injury.

The juvenile “employee” who is caught will therefore be released in a matter of hours to return to work causing very little disruption to the car theft business. The social ills that may produce the mindset that car theft is a viable job opportunity are beyond our scope, but criminal investigations often require cooperating witnesses who are interested in self-preservation by providing information about their accomplices to avoid or minimize the consequences they face.

It is universally known that there are no consequences for a juvenile taken into custody that would incentivize them to inform since they must be released within 6 hours in almost all cases under the AG Directive I referenced.

I also don’t need to remind any of you that in the last few years we have seen an explosion of disruptions from pop-up parties to underage drinking to mass hysteria on our boardwalks and parks. This is also a direct result of changes made to the adjudication of minors who are drinking or using cannabis.

As many of you know, we did not oppose the legalization of cannabis for adults. But since the enabling law was passed we have been told time and again that nothing stops a police officer from using their many “tools” to deal with drunk or rowdy minors. I must tell you honestly that whatever tools you think we have the law has simply tied our hands and the result is there for all to see.

For your information, I have been a police officer in Point Pleasant Beach for over 30 years. I was in charge of the Boardwalk for many of those. I have dealt with drunks, crowds, fights and instances of mob mentality. And I am telling you that what is happening now is not normal. What is happening now is a direct result of changes in the criminal justice policy of the State.

I will give you one direct example of what I mean. When cannabis was legalized the law established written warnings for minors in possession of it. Yet the law does not require a minor to show ID to an officer to write the warning. So how do we enforce the law when the same law says we can’t enforce it? This is also confirmed by an Attorney General FAQ, updated on March 8, 2021, on the subject that says and I quote “simply refusing to provide identifying information” is not obstruction.

Since that same law says we can’t search a minor, can’t detain a minor and can’t arrest a minor for public use of alcohol or cannabis what exactly are the tools cops are supposed to use to address this situation? Do you think a minor cares about getting a written warning their parents aren’t required to see assuming, that is, they provide us ID to write the warning?

These organized groups of kids are not dumb. They know the law says we can’t do anything to them so they gather, drink, things get wild and then all hell breaks loose. The public deserves to not wait until after things have gotten out of control for the police to be able to make arrests or bring minors down to the station to call their parents.

Finally, we need to take a serious look at bail reform. You can pass any law you want after this but under the current bail reform rules none of them will matter. We hear constantly that bail reform is a success.

Well, if the measurement is releasing even dangerous people back to our communities then I guess you can call it a success. My limited time before you does not allow for me to detail many of the areas bail reform needs to be addressed. But I think there are two things to consider.

First, the Criminal Sentencing Commission needs to have representation from rank-and-file police officers recommended by the State PBA. Our members are the ones dealing with crimes before they ever get to a prosecutor, defender, lawyer or judge. And yet we are excluded from talking about the real-world impact of their recommendations without a seat at the table.

Second, you must seriously consider reviewing the process by which the AOC developed the algorithm that created the Public Safety Assessments used by judges during pretrial detention review. This algorithm was not developed by police, prosecutors or judges but was instead farmed out to the Arnold Foundation, a nonprofit whose anti-cop rhetoric can be found right on their website.

When their approach is centered on comments such as: “police too often rely on punitive enforcement and unnecessary force”; and,

Jails are full because of “law enforcement agencies that arrest more people for minor offenses and over-police communities of color” what do think their system to recommend detention or release is going to say? Justice should be blind. Those positions are hardly impartial and the process needs to change as a result.

I can assure you my members have sworn an oath to protect and serve and will continue to do so to the best of their ability. But we can’t protect the public when the law and policy of the State is designed to keep us from doing it.

As you know well, the State PBA is first and foremost a resource for you and we will gladly engage in meaningful discussions and analysis to support you in your legislative efforts any time.

Thank you for allowing me to make these comments today